Have you heard of J K Tripathy?

“Have you heard of J. K. Tripathy?”
“No.”

This is the (almost) unanimous response. I do not know which is worse – this lack of awareness, or my lack of surprise at the answer.

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It was a day like any other. It was a little difficult to listen to the news. There was hardly anything new in it. I could not easily distinguish the news of that day from the news of the previous day. It occurred to me that the Seven O’ Clock News had not changed much since ’67.I wondered what made the news so… well… irrelevant. Was it the media, the public, or both? Was the media airing convenient news because that is what the public wanted? I did not believe this to be true. Still, I could not claim that it was false. I had no answer.

*******

This site is a search for the answer. The idea is simple. We will write only when we have a story worth telling. A story worth telling is one that might be the solution to a problem, and not the problem by itself. We will write about it only from one angle – our angle. Do not take anything you read to be an impartial, well-researched article. After all, this is not “news”.

Click here to know why we believe it can make a difference. Of course, we cannot do much without your support.

*******

Tiruchchirapalli, commonly known as Trichy, is a relatively small, communally sensitive city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

J.K. Tripathy was posted as the Commissioner of Police and DIG in Trichy in 1999. He wanted to change the public image of the police. “In society, only 5 per cent are deviants, but we tend to alienate the 95 per cent. The idea was to tackle the deviant 5 per cent without alienating the 95 per cent”

Taking a leaf out of the Koban style of policing, J. K. Tripathy decided to take the police out of the police station to make them more approachable. The idea hinged on the ‘beat system’. He divided Trichy into fifty seven zones, each having four beat officers to patrol the neighbourhood.
“While normally the personnel keep rotating, we selected about 250 of our best men, made them ‘Beat Officers’ and gave them fixed areas with about 5,000 population each. This helped them relate to the people.”

Apart from regular policing, they also joined people in doing everything from fixing street lights to helping senior citizens cross the road. They soon won the community’s trust. Along with the police, the community now had a stake in maintaining law and order. They shared more information with the police, allowing them to take better preemptive action.

The police also started keeping contact numbers of workmen, such as plumbers and electricians, who were sent to houses on requests from the residents. This way, strangers did not gain access into houses while the men were away. Also, special watch was kept on locked premises to contain burglaries.

Further, suggestions boxes were put up in each area from which letters were collected daily and taken to the Commissioner himself for his perusal. This helped the Commissioner learn about the functioning at the ground level. The public was also encouraged to confide in the Beat Officer.

Within three months, the crime rate in Trichy dropped by about forty percent. By the end of the year, it reduced further by ten percent. The following year saw more reduction in the crime rate.

In 2001, J K Tripathy became the first Indian to be selected for the prestigious IACP/ITT (International Association of Chiefs of Police and International Telegraph and Telecommunication) Community Policing Award.

Trichy Community Policing also won the gold in the International Innovations Awards Programme of Common wealth Association for Public Administration and Management in 2002 .

*******

I happened to run into a police officer at a restaurant today morning. After some deliberation, I thought I will ask him.

“Have you heard of J. K. Tripathy?”
“J. K. Tripathy?”

“Yes. He was a Commissioner of Police in Tamil Nadu”
“No, we do not know anyone outside Karnataka”

“Ok. Kiran Bedi?”
“Kiran Bedi?”

“Yes. She worked in Delhi, and became quite popular in 1980s”
“1980? I joined only in 2004”

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Source: hinduonnet.com, businessworldindia.com

Our knowledge of J. K. Tripathy was quite accidental as well. We thank Erehwon Innovation Consulting for it.

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